Statutory Sick Pay: A Guide for UK Employers and Employees

If illness has stopped you working, tell your employer today, in writing if you can, and keep a copy. Since 6 April 2026, your first full sick day can qualify for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), even if your earnings are low. But the rate can be far below your lost wages. Here is what to send, what you may be owed and what to do if your employer refuses.

How much SSP will you get?

Compare 80% of average weekly earnings with £123.25. The lower number is your weekly SSP rate for the tax year from 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027. If you average £100 a week, your SSP is £80 a week; if you average £500, it is £123.25. The flat rate applies once average weekly earnings reach £154.0625, or about £154.06. There is no earnings floor for eligibility, but the amount you receive depends on earnings.

Average weekly earnings are normally drawn from pay in a relevant period ending on the last normal payday before the first full sick day, going back at least eight weeks. The calculation uses earnings on which Class 1 National Insurance contributions are due, or would be due if pay were high enough. New starters can qualify even without eight weeks of payslips: there are separate rules using the pay available, or contractual earnings if they have not yet been paid. A later sickness period linked to an earlier one normally keeps the original earnings calculation. See HMRC’s calculation guide if your pay dates or contracts are unusual.

SSP is paid only for qualifying days: days you would normally work. For an irregular pattern, employer and worker should agree which days qualify; HMRC has fallback rules if they cannot. For part of a week, divide the weekly rate by that week’s qualifying days and multiply by the number missed. Do not multiply a rounded one-day figure across a full week: official partial-week payment tables account for rounding.

SSP comes from the employer on the normal payday, through payroll. It is taxable and subject to National Insurance where due; employers cannot reclaim SSP from HMRC. Your contract may promise occupational sick pay above the statutory minimum. Check the policy before assuming the SSP figure is your total sick pay.

Who qualifies, including agency and zero-hours staff?

You must have started work under a contract, be incapable of work for at least one full day, and meet notice and evidence requirements. There is no minimum service period or earnings threshold for ordinary SSP entitlement. Part-time, fixed-term, casual and zero-hours employees can qualify. The length of payment may still depend on the contract: if a short-term or casual employee has less than three months’ continuous employment, entitlement generally lasts only until the end of agreed work; after three months, different continuity rules apply.

Employment labels can mislead. Some people called workers are treated as employed earners for SSP, including agency workers supplied to work under a client’s supervision, direction and control. An agency worker may qualify from the first day they actually work under the contract; whether pay continues between assignments depends on whether the contract continues. An agreed new assignment starting within eight weeks can preserve eligibility from its first day. HMRC explains the contract and assignment rules.

Self-employed people, including genuinely self-employed agency workers, do not get SSP. Company directors may qualify, but how their average earnings are worked out depends on how they are paid. If earnings from two jobs are not aggregated for National Insurance, entitlement is assessed separately for each contract: someone may be unfit for physical work yet fit for an office job. Where earnings are aggregated, a different test applies. Do not decide entitlement from a job title or tax label alone.

When does payment start, and when does it stop?

There are no three unpaid waiting days. The period of incapacity for work can begin with a single full day of sickness, including a day on which you would not normally work, but SSP is paid only for qualifying days you miss. A five-day worker on the flat rate who is ill for just one full working day receives £24.65. If they work even one minute before going home ill, that day does not count as a sick day; a later full day off may qualify.

SSP lasts up to 28 weeks. Separate sickness periods of at least one full day link if the gap between them is 56 days or less; linked periods share the same 28-week allowance. A continuous chain of linked periods lasting more than three years also ends entitlement. Payment stops sooner if the person returns to work or otherwise ceases to qualify. The weekly flat rate is fixed for 2026–27, not for every week of a future absence that might cross a tax-year boundary.

An employer cannot force someone on sick leave to take annual leave instead. You can request holiday while off sick; if approved, holiday pay and sick pay must be handled under the applicable rules. Holiday does not, by itself, interrupt a period of incapacity for work. Acas sets out how sickness and holiday interact.

How do you report sickness and prove it?

Tell your employer by its stated deadline; if it has none, the default is seven days. Do it today, before a rota change or a missed shift muddies the record. A text or email is enough if your workplace accepts it. Write the first day you could not work, the shifts missed and how to reach you. Save the message and any reply. You cannot be required to report in person or on a special form for SSP. If you report late without good reason, the employer can withhold SSP for the days of delay, not the entire absence.

1. Send the message now. Say you are unwell, the date you became unable to work and which shifts you expect to miss. Follow the workplace deadline; where there is no rule, the deadline is seven days.
2. Self-certify for the first seven calendar days. Weekends and other non-working days count towards that seven-day period. Keep your own note of each day and any work you did.
3. Get a fit note if the absence lasts more than seven consecutive days. Your employer may ask for it then, not before. A late fit note must not be used to withhold SSP.

A fit note may be issued by a GP or hospital doctor, registered nurse, occupational therapist, pharmacist or physiotherapist; it can be digital or printed. An employer can agree to other suitable evidence, such as an Allied Health Professional Health and Work Report. Late notice and a late fit note are different: only the former can cost SSP days under the notice rule. GOV.UK explains both deadlines.

What must an employer do?

Confirm eligibility and qualifying days, calculate average weekly earnings, pay through payroll on the normal payday and keep enough records to explain the decision. If a worker has variable days, agree the qualifying days rather than assuming that every weekday counts. For unusual pay patterns or linked absences, consult GOV.UK’s SSP calculator and the manual guidance. Employers fund SSP themselves; there is no HMRC recovery for it.

If SSP is expected to run out while the person is still ill, the employer must send form SSP1 on or before the start of week 23. If payment ends unexpectedly while they remain sick, the deadline is within seven days of it ending. If they never qualified, it is within seven days of their first sick day. The form supports an application for benefits; it is not itself a benefit award. The GOV.UK form SSP1 gives the reasons and explains how to challenge a decision.

If you think SSP was wrongly refused or miscalculated, ask for the employer’s calculation and written reason. Contact HMRC’s Statutory Payment Dispute Team within six months of the disputed decision. In Northern Ireland, nidirect also directs SSP disputes to HMRC; the Labour Relations Agency can advise on wider workplace or wages disputes. A separate industrial tribunal route may apply to unlawful deductions, but it is not a replacement for the HMRC SSP decision route.

If a manager cuts shifts, threatens dismissal or punishes you for asking, keep the rota, messages and payslips. A union can help you act collectively: UNISON for care and health, Unite for hospitality and logistics, USDAW for retail and warehousing, GMB for cleaning and delivery, or IWGB for many platform and outsourced workers. Acas can explain early conciliation before an employment tribunal claim. For most tribunal claims, the deadline is three months less a day for problems before 1 October 2026, and six months less a day for problems on or after that date; some claims have different limits. Early conciliation pauses the clock only if you notify Acas within the applicable time limit. Citizens Advice and local law centres can help with advice and benefits. If the problem also involves unpaid minimum wage, report it to HMRC; report labour exploitation to the GLAA where its remit applies, unsafe work to HSE, and discrimination to the EHRC. These routes address different problems; they do not replace the HMRC SSP dispute process.

What happens after SSP runs out?

Get SSP1 before the final week if the end of entitlement is foreseeable. Depending on your circumstances, Universal Credit or New Style Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) may help; neither is automatic, and New Style ESA has a National Insurance contribution test. You can start an ESA application before SSP ends if you know you will be off for more than 28 weeks. Someone self-employed should check benefit eligibility rather than wait for SSP1 from a non-existent employer. For Universal Credit and work, see our related guide.

Which April 2026 changes are already in force?

All three headline SSP reforms in the Employment Rights Act 2025 came into force on 6 April 2026 in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. They are not proposals for October 2026. Older guides that still require four consecutive sick days, three unpaid waiting days or a minimum weekly income are out of date.

1. 6 Apr 2026One-day incapacity and no waiting days

   The former four-day period and three unpaid qualifying days were removed. SSP can start on the first full sick qualifying day.

2. 6 Apr 2026No earnings floor

   The old Lower Earnings Limit condition for SSP was abolished. The National Insurance lower earnings limit still exists for other purposes; it is no longer an SSP eligibility test.

3. 6 Apr 2026Lower-of-two-amounts rate

   The weekly rate became the lower of 80% of average weekly earnings or the uprated flat rate of £123.25 for 2026–27.

As at 1 October 2026, these SSP reforms are in force; there is no further SSP change scheduled under this Act. The rate is published for the current 2026–27 tax year. Do not assume the same cash figure will apply after 5 April 2027.

Does the rule differ across the UK?

England, Wales and Scotland use the same SSP scheme. Scottish taxpayers may pay income tax on SSP at Scottish rates, but there is no separate Scottish SSP weekly rate. Northern Ireland has its own underlying social-security legislation, yet the same day-one, earnings-floor and lower-of-80%-or-flat-rate reforms took effect there on 6 April 2026. The Labour Relations Agency confirms the change. Northern Ireland’s weekly flat-rate ceiling is also £123.25 from 6 April 2026, matching Great Britain’s rate, but set separately by article 8 of the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order (Northern Ireland) 2026. Use the nidirect SSP guidance and NI SSP1 for local forms and benefits advice.

Agricultural workers may have different sick-pay terms. In England, some employed before 1 October 2013 may qualify for Agricultural Sick Pay rather than SSP; Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own agricultural arrangements. Check the agricultural rules before applying the ordinary SSP figures.